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EOS Divide? The language divide between the Western world and the Eastern world is effectively hindering technological progress for the EOS network.
Despite showing a united front for the release of the EOS mainnet, relations between block producers have deteriorated in part due to the "Great Firewall," the nickname given to the stringent internet rules enforced by the Chinese government, and in part due to the cultural differences between the two communities.
Hoping to resolve these differences, in the past weeks EOS community members have been working toward a more inclusive arbitration system. A new organization, the EOS Mandarin Arbitration Community (EMAC) is seeking to increase Chinese speakers' access to dispute resolution, and two of its members have joined the EOS Core Arbitration Forum (ECAF).
The efforts appear to be paying off: EMAC advisor Thomas Cox told CoinDesk that "by now anybody who feels that there's an unbridgeable divide probably was on vacation for four or five weeks." Full Story
BITHUMB BUY-OUT: On Thursday Bithumb, South Korea's largest crypto exchange by volume, announced it has a new majority shareholder: the Singapore-based BK Global Consortium.
BTC Holdings Company, which held 76 percent of Bithumb's equity, agreed to sell more than half of its holdings to the blockchain investment firm formed by BK Global, a plastic surgery medical group in Singapore.
The acquisition deal further indicates Bithumb's total valuation is now roughly $880 million. Full Story
EXCHANGES BEWARE: The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released an advisory cautioning crypto-firms to be wary of transactions that originate or terminate in Iran on Friday.
The financial authority fears that the Middle Eastern country could be turning to cryptocurrencies to sidestep strict financial sanctions levied by the U.S. government.
The U.S.-based crypto exchanges were reminded of their responsibility to uphold the sanctions as they pertain to the Bank Secrecy Act. Full Story |
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The U.S. Senate held a hearing on the cryptocurrency ecosystem yesterday. Two guests were invited to share their positive and negative sentiments on the state of the industry. The negative viewpoint was represented by than none other than Dr. Doom, Nouriel Roubini, the NYU economist.
During his testimony, he claimed that cryptos are down 70-90 percent, all ICOs are scams and that much of the industry is totally centralized.
As a rebuttal: - The 2017 Q4 over-speculation caused losses but if you bought exactly one year ago, you are probably up about 40 percent. If you bought earlier you are up higher.
- It was reported that 80 percent of ICOs were scams this year. However, the difference between failed and scam is subjective, especially since that study defined a scam by what was "deemed by the community." For comparison, Startup Genome reported that within traditional early stage investing, 90 percent of startups fail.
- Cryptos are not centralized states, but rather open source software projects. The fact that there are about 2,000 or so cryptos indicate a wide distribution of developers and users decentralizing themselves further from the source.
For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. You can also follow CoinDesk's research analyst Peter Ryan on Twitter for the latest insights. |
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| | DESCENT AHEAD? Following the drop in bitcoin's price after weeks of lateral movement, the charts indicate a bearish future. In fact, a number of price factors in the charts strongly favor a bear takeover. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST
BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK: The brains behind the discovery of the bitcoin-tether connection – John Griffin and Amin Shams – are continuing their efforts to expose malpractice in financial markets.
Griffin, a UT Austin professor, told Bloomberg Businessweek he was inspired by a Bible quote to publish findings on misdeeds that occur in different markets, although he fears that malicious actors will use his papers as a guideline to better manipulate the markets.
Griffin's critics claim that he and his team do not understand exactly how the market works and do not understand the consequences of publishing based on "a fundamental misunderstanding."
THE REST
NDTV: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleviated the fears of citizens concerned that technological advancement would deprive them of jobs, and in doing so set up hopes for a more blockchain-friendly India.
In his statement at the launch of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, NDTV's Gadgets 360 quotes him saying that "the government is working on a national strategy for blockchain technology and will also announce a drone policy."
He went on to add that after missing the first three industrial revolutions, this revolution "can take India to new heights of development," specifically citing work in emerging fields such as blockchain.
BLOOMBERG: The age old adage "finders keepers" may be modified to "builders keepers" in the case of Bibox Exchange.
Bloomberg reported that the co-founder of the exchange, Wanlin Wang, sued former employee Wei Liu for furtively naming herself as the sole managing member and shareholder of the firm's crypto management platform.
Wang contends that he hired Liu to set up the paperwork for the platform, and to register him and a business partner as the shareholders.
However, Liu's lawyers argued that she authored the white paper behind the venture, has ownership of the website domain and most importantly, control of the key to the entity's digital wallet for releasing assets.
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